Happily Ever After
by fiery-flamingo
Summary: The stresses of seventh year get to one Gryffindor Quidditch captain. Luckily, she had proper supplies on hand. One-shot. OotP.


Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I own nothing.

A/N: This was written for a friend for a Christmas drabble meme. I thought I'd put it up here for the world to enjoy.

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**Happily Ever After**

"I still can't believe you stole this off your mum."

Angelina just grinned at Katie's disbelieving face and leaned in to take the offered bottle, staggering as she pulled away, almost falling into the side of Greenhouse Three. Reaching out a hand to steady her much more intoxicated friend, Katie guided her pack on their usual path to the pitch.

Her captain had woken her in the middle of the night already drunk, insisting that they needed to go to the pitch. Figuring that Angelina would likely bugger up any attempt she'd make to go on her own, Katie had complied.

"What's a little tequila between family?" Tipping her head back, Angelina took a large drink, face puckering at the taste and feel of it burning all the way down. It was getting easier though, the urge to vomit had lessened. Twelfth time was the charm. "Besides she won't notice this is gone for _months_. She's found Jesus again. And a fit vicar."

Katie wisely stayed silent. The romantic misadventures of Angelina's mother were a source of contention between mother and daughter that Katie had learned no counseling would smooth over. Sometimes it was just better to let Angelina go.

"I swear I will _never_ be like her," her friend swore vehemently. "She's pathetic, always talking about 'back in the day' this or 'when your father was around' that. Goes on about finding her 'happily ever after'. It makes me want to shake her."

"Don't do that," Katie sighed tiredly and kept walking. "She's your mum. And keep your voice down."

""What afraid of the Toad?" Angelina snorted derisively. "She can come bearing down on us riding a blast-ended skrewt for all I care. She _banned_ Fred, George, and Harry! What kind of cock sucking tea cozy does that?"

Spinning around unevenly, Angelina lifted the bottle of amber liquid in a mock salute to the castle inside of which the topic of their conversation was enjoying a nice toady rest.

"BITCH!"

The scream shattered the silence of the grounds, causing an echo that disturbed even the Owlery. Katie, pulse racing, scrambled to cover Angelina's mouth, wanting to keep the entirety of Hogwarts unaware that Gryffindor's quidditch captain was sloshed out of her mind. But Angelina, completely uncaring, just laughed behind Katie's hand and leaned into her friend for support.

"If you don't shut your trap then Umbridge will be down here and _we'll_ be banned as well!" Katie hissed sharply before removing her hand from Angelina's mouth, who was looking not nearly as repentant as she'd hoped. Needing something to calm her nerves, Katie wrestled the tequila from Angelina's hand and took a slug. "This is asinine. Why are we out here?"

Anger fading as soon as it had come and contrition settling in its place, Angelina gestured at the pitch. "To think," she said, as if that explained it all.

Katie rolled her eyes. "To think? You got me up in the middle of the night so that we could think. We couldn't have done that in the Common Room? Or our _beds_?"

"No," Angelina replied, shaking her head then abruptly stopping when the world spun. "Tried that. Didn't work." She cinched her eyes closed. "Should have gotten you before the tequila."

"I'm glad that you thought of that now."

"Didn't mean to."

They passed through the doors of the locker room and then onto the pitch.

"Well, we're here," Katie announced before taking another drink. The stuff wasn't half bad. "What do you want to think about?"

Angelina settled onto the turf with a happy sigh. The world stayed stationary when she was laying down. "About when its going to be better. When we're big Quidditch stars raking in the Galleons and its all happily ever after."

Shaking her head in equal parts amusement and exasperation, Katie gave in and joined her friend on the ground. "Alright. What's the first thing you're going to buy?"

"The smallest most expensive dress I can find. In plated gold." Angelina flashed one of her quicksilver grins then stared up at the starry sky. "You?"

"A pair of dolphins that I can ride on."

A sharp crack of laughter reverberated throughout the pitch. "You would." Her grin faded into something more serious, signs of inebriation fading. "I had a dream."

Katie inhaled, preparing herself for whatever Angie had really brought her out here for. It was a circular thing to get Angelina to talk about what was really bothering her. For all the bluster and exhibitionist tendencies the woman could be a steel trap of angst. "Oh yeah?"

Eyes never straying from the sky, Angelina nodded. "Everyone was dead. And I knew if I could just get to my broom then I could save you all but I couldn't because Umbridge had banned broomsticks."

"It was just a dream," Katie assured her.

"I know. I just-" Angelina trailed off, eyes firmly set on a point in the distance. "We'll be alright, though, won't we? The Toad'll get sacked and it'll be happily ever after?"

Katie reached out with her free hand, grabbed ahold of Angelina's and squeezed tight. "Yeah, Ange. We'll be fine. No Toad can bring us down. Happily ever after."

**End**

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